| Abstract: |
The purpose of our research is the environmental reconstruction of an important part of the Ripa Pannonica (limes), the Roman frontier system in Pannonia province. The study area is between the present Komárom, Tata, Dunaalmás settlements in Hungary. The legionary fortress of Brigetio was located along the Danube, forming part of the town of Komárom, Hungary. The camp and the settlement were bordered by the Danube on the north and by an aband oned river subchannel on the south. Using this riverbed and the valley of the Fényes stream flowing into it the Romans constructed a dam and created a wetland area, which might have had a defensive role.
We prepared an environmental reconstruction based on geomorphological research, field work, GIS analysis, archive maps and historical sources and made the reconstructed digital topographic model of the study area. We also assessed the relationship between the geomorphological features and the anthropological landscape-shaping impacts.
The settlement lied on the higher level of floodplain of the Danube river. The accumulation of the higher floodplain’s sediments can be dated to the end of the Atlantic and first half of the Subboreal. The higher floodplain was finally formed in the last third of the Subboreal phase. At this time, at the end of the Late Bronze Age, the riverbed (the Danube subchannel) lying south of Brigetio’s island was formed. This riverbed became abandoned at the end of the Subboreal phase, in the Early Iron Age. The marsh resulting from the Roman dam construction was present up until 1747, when S. Mikoviny dismantled the flood-gates and drained the area. Its history can be followed on archive maps, such as G. G. Priorato (1672), L. F. Marsigli (1726) and S. Mikoviny (1746). |
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